The Time They All Got Sick
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Even the strongest of Rangers get sick. Oneshot following Way of the Samurai.


_Disclaimer: I do not own anything_

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><p>Emily was sitting on the side of the tub, holding Mia's hair back while the pink Ranger threw up in the toilet. The yellow Ranger gently rubbed her sister's back soothingly and whispered words of comfort until Mia was finally done. Normally Kevin would have been the one to sit by Mia's side while she got sick, but he was also feeling under the weather and couldn't get out of bed without collapsing.<p>

The blue and pink Rangers weren't the only ones who were feeling sick. Mike, Antonio and Jayden were all laid up in bed as well, complaining of stomach aches, headaches, general pain, nausea and dizziness. Emily found herself running from room to room, nursing all her friends.

She walked a shaky Mia back to bed and tucked her in next to Kevin. She readjusted the pillows so the two were comfortable and then heard her name being called from down the hall. She sighed, picked up the two empty glasses and raced to hers and Mike's room.

"What do you need?" she asked as she walked over to his bed and set the glasses down for a moment. She put her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. He was still a little warm.

Mike held up his handheld game, "Batteries died."

"Good, maybe now you can rest," she said, pulling the game out of his hands. Mike pouted and crossed his arms.

"I can't sleep. I'm in too much pain."

"It'll be easier than you think. You look like you're about to collapse," Emily answered. She set the video game down on Mike's night table and turned back to her boyfriend. "Look, I'll get you new batteries in two hours. Try to sleep in the meantime, okay? You'll wake up feeling so much better, I promise."

Mike glanced at the clock, "Two hours. I'm counting the minutes."

"Minutes, sheep, I don't care. Just sleep," Emily said. She picked up Kevin and Mia's glasses and grabbed Mike's as well. He had finished his juice and was going to need more.

She walked to the kitchen to refill the cups, making sure not to get them confused. She had no idea what the Rangers were all sick with, or even if they had caught the same virus. There was no way she was going to put up with five double-sick Rangers.

She was halfway through filling the three glasses when she heard a bell ringing. Sighing loudly she set the juice container down and raced to Jayden and Antonio's room.

"Yes?"

"Jayden's snoring," Antonio whined. He had his hands pressed to the side of his face, trying to drown out Jayden's snores. "I can't sleep."

"I can't stop snoring," Emily sighed. She looked around the room for a solution. The only thing she could think of to stop snoring was to wake Jayden up, but he was the only Ranger who was actually sleeping. She wouldn't wake him.

She gave Antonio a look as an idea hit her. "I'll be right back," she told him before racing off into the common room. She searched through all the drawers until she found what she was looking for: Mentor Ji's IPod.

"This will teach you to leave me with all of them," Emily smirked wickedly as she took his IPod and headed back to Antonio. Mentor Ji was always meditating, but because the Rangers always made the house so noisy, he needed a way to drown them out. Emily knew he had a bunch of soothing music on his IPod and she knew it would be perfect for Antonio. She presented the IPod to the gold Ranger, having already picked out a playlist of songs for him.

"Here," she gave him the music player, "Soothing sounds of nature. It'll drown Jayden out. I do it all the time with my music when Mike's snoring gets really bad."

"Thanks, Emily," Antonio smiled. He stuck the headphones in his ears and closed his eyes. Emily's idea was actually working.

Emily sighed in relief. She saw Antonio and Jayden were also done with their juices so on the way back to the kitchen she grabbed both glasses.

Again, she started filling the glasses with juice but a noise from Kevin and Mia's room stopped her. She groaned loudly, grabbed their two glasses, and hurried to their room.

When she got inside she saw Kevin was on the floor. She took a deep breath.

"I told you to call me if you needed to get up," she said, setting the cups down on the night table before walking around the bed to help Kevin back up.

"I didn't want to bug you," Kevin replied. "I thought I could make it on my own."

"Well, you can't. You shouldn't even by trying. What if you fell backwards?" Emily pointed to the table on Kevin's side of the bed. "You could have hit your head and been seriously hurt. Next time, call me!"

"Sorry," Kevin was put back into bed by Emily, who then proceeded to ask him what he needed. He gestured to the fan. "It's hot in here."

She felt his forehead and then reached over to feel Mia's. Both were warm. Emily walked over to the other side of the room and turned on the fan.

"Can you bring it closer?" Mia asked. "I can hardly feel it."

Emily pulled the fan in as close to the bed as it could get before the cord reached its limit, but Kevin and Mia still didn't seem happy. That was when Mike started calling.

"In a minute!" she shouted to her boyfriend. She turned back to the couple in bed, "Is this good?"

"Can you make it blow on us constantly?" Kevin asked. Emily nodded and stopped the fan's head from spinning. Finally satisfied, Mia and Kevin got comfortable in their bed and Emily could leave to care for Mike.

But first she was going to finish pouring his juice. She raced to the kitchen, poured his glass and carried it back with her as she ran to her room.

"I thought I told you to sleep," she said as she set the juice down on his night table. Mike nodded his head and clutched his stomach.

"Remember a few hours ago when I told you I wasn't hungry?" he asked. "I'm hungry now. I think I could eat something."

"Mia said that half an hour ago," Emily sighed. "I'll feed you something as long as you promise not to throw up."

"I can't promise, but I'll try not to," Mike said. Emily nodded and went to the kitchen to heat up Mike's bowl of soup. She had made it earlier for all her sick teammates but most of them hadn't been hungry. She fed the ones that could eat and put the soup in the fridge for later for the ones who wouldn't eat.

She put Mike's soup in the microwave and set it to warm up. She heard Jayden calling her and groaned. She finished pouring his and Antonio's juice and raced to tend to him.

This continued right into the night. Emily spent every moment on her feet, running from room to room. She would hand her friends tissues (and threw out the used ones if the garbage was too far), she would make them meals if they were hungry and help them to the bathroom when their stomachs changed its mind. She cleaned up the mess they made when they didn't call her in time and couldn't make it to the bathroom. She refilled their glasses of juice so they were never without something to drink and she did everything in her power to make them comfortable.

The more the night wore on, the grumpier they all started to get, especially when Emily really started to insist they all lay in bed and sleep. None of them were in the mood to fall asleep. They were all so sick they couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. By the time night fell, they were all completely miserable.

Emily huffed as she marched from room to room.

"Serena was never this bad when she was dying," she said to herself. "If she had been grumpy, I would have understood."

"I'm cold," Kevin whined when he saw Emily coming into his and Mia's room. He pointed to the fan. "Turn it off."

"Don't turn it off! I like the fan!" Mia argued. Emily rolled her eyes.

"You're not cold because you stole all the blankets!" Kevin frowned. He reached for the blankets covering Mia and ripped them off her. He wrapped them around himself while Mia shot him a deadly look. Emily sighed.

"I'll go get a spare blanket from the closet. You two can each have your own."

"What about the fan?" both of the sick Rangers asked her.

"Figure it out before I get back," Emily said. She hurried to the hallway closet and reached up high for a blanket. Why Mentor Ji still insisted on storing useful items out of her reach, she didn't know. Thankfully, he had bought her a stepping stool for just such on occasion. Even with it she was still a little short from reaching to top shelf, but it was better than nothing.

Mia's favourite blanket was stacked right in the middle of all the spare blankets and pillows. When Emily finally pulled it free, everything else came crashing down on top of her and she fell from her stool. Fortunately she had a soft landing.

"EMILY!" Antonio and Jayden had horrible timing. Emily still had to deal with Mia and Kevin and now she had a mess to clean up in the hallway.

"In a minute!" she snapped back. Antonio starting ringing his bell; demanding her attention. Emily ignored it for now and hurried back to Kevin and Mia. She tossed the blanket at the cold pink Ranger and tried to run out to check up on Antonio and Jayden, but Kevin and Mia stopped her.

"The fan," they both said. Emily turned to the fan and gave it a look of pure hatred. She walked over to it and ripped the plug from the wall.

"No more fan," she told them. Kevin was grinning while Mia began to sulk. Emily didn't care anymore. She just wanted them to get some sleep so she could get some sleep.

"Emily…"

"I'll figure it out in a minute, Mia. Just go to bed!" Emily said. She raced out of the room before she had to hear another word from the couple.

But when she got the red and gold Rangers' room she saw things were not going to be easy in here either.

"What happened?" she asked, eyes wide as she stared at Jayden's bed. He had asked her to make him hot soup moments ago and now it looked like he had spilt it all over himself and the bed.

"I sneezed…"

"It was huge," Antonio chuckled.

"It's not funny," Emily ran her hand down her face and sighed. She looked at Jayden, "Did it burn you?"

"Fire Samurai, remember," Jayden said. Emily nodded her head.

"Thankfully… look just share Antonio's bed for now. I'll have to wash the blanket and sheets and…"

"Emily!"

"One minute, Mike," Emily called to her boyfriend. She walked to Jayden's bed and helped him out of it. She let him use her for support as she walked him over to Antonio's bed and laid him down next to his best friend. She then gathered up what she could from Jayden's bed and made her way to the laundry room. She dumped everything on the floor with the intention of washing it later.

"Emily!" Mike called her again and this time it sounded even more desperate. Emily took off running and nearly slipped on the mess of pillows and blankets she had left in the hallway. She made it to her room in one piece though and looked at Mike in his bed.

"And you need…?"

"I'm lonely," Mike whined. "Come to bed, please."

"I wish I could, I…"

"Emy!"

"I'll be right back," Emily promised Mike and kissed his cheek before going to Mia and Kevin's room. She walked in and groaned.

"What?"

"Have you figured out the fan issue yet?" Mia asked. Emily shook her head before noticing that Kevin was sleeping, completely dead to the world. Well, she hoped he wasn't dead. He was still breathing; that was a good sign.

"Yes, actually," she smiled. She picked up the fan and carried it to Mia's side of the bed. She plugged it back into the wall and aimed it directly at the Wind Samurai. "It's not hitting Kevin, and even if it was, he's asleep anyways."

Mia rolled over in bed with a smile and closed her eyes to sleep. Emily let out a sigh of relief. Mia would be asleep soon, which meant she had two sleeping Rangers and only three to go.

"Emily!" this was Mike's call again. Emily returned to her room but instead of going directly to Mike she walked to her own bed, picked up Stuffy the stuffed dog and handed it to her boyfriend.

"I can't stay until everyone's asleep. Stuffy will keep you company," Emily said. Mike accepted the stuffed toy but shot Emily a hurt look.

"But I want you."

"So does everyone else," Emily sighed.

"I'll try to stay awake until everyone else is asleep, then," Mike said. Emily quickly shook her head no.

"Please don't. You need sleep if you're going to feel better. If you are asleep when I come to bed, I'll sleep in your bed with you, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Mike smiled. Emily kissed his forehead and smiled when she noticed it wasn't as warm as before.

"Sleep tight," she whispered as he closed his eyes. She turned and headed out to Antonio and Jayden's room to check up on them.

She crept into the room silently, hoping she wouldn't wake them if they were asleep. Unfortunately, they were still awake. When she saw this she whined: "Come on. Go to sleep."

"He's hogging the bed," Antonio whined. He started to push on Jayden. The red Ranger pushed back. Emily worried they were going to push each other off the bed.

"Jayden, Antonio was nice enough to share his bed after you wet yours," Emily said and Antonio had to suppress a laugh at her choice of words. Jayden glared at his best friend. Emily ignored it all. "You two better stop fighting or you'll both be sleeping on the floor."

"You can't make us," Antonio stuck out his tongue and Jayden pouted. Emily crossed her arms over her chest.

"No, but unless you two make up, you'll knock each other off and I won't be there to help you back up," she threatened them. Both boys shut up and gave her a scared look. Emily nodded her head, showing them she was serious. "You don't want to sleep on the floor, do you?"

Antonio ran his hand down the middle of the bed, "My half, your half," he said pointing to both halves of the bed. "We don't cross the imaginary line."

"Deal," Jayden nodded his head and both boys settled into the bed. Emily sighed in relief again and left them to sleep.

She wanted to go back to her room, flop into bed and drift off, but she walked by her mess in the hallway again and remembered she had a lot of cleaning up to do. All the dishes in the kitchen needed to be cleaned (some needed to be disinfected as well), Jayden's bedding needed to go in the wash, the pillows and blankets needed to be picked up off the floor and shoved back into the closet, medicine needed to be stored away and just when she thought she had enough to do, Scruffy started clawing at the door, asking to be let out so he could go to the bathroom. Emily gave into his whining, not that she had a choice, and let him out to do his business. Meanwhile she got started on the dishes.

When they were done she walked back to the door and let her dog in. Now came the bad part. Mentor Ji told her he didn't want Scruffy's poop all over his yard, so anytime Scruffy did his business she had to clean it up. She searched the yard until she found it, picked it up in a plastic bag and dumped it in the garbage.

She headed back inside and washed her hands. She decided she would wash Jayden's bed sheets in the morning, leaving her with only the mess in the hallway to clean up before she could put her head down.

But as she stared at the blankets and pillows on the ground she started to get really exhausted.

-Samurai-

Mentor Ji got home late that night after heading out for the day for some time to himself. He hated leaving when all the Rangers were sick, but his time to himself was important. He had spent the day studying old scrolls and couldn't be disturbed.

When he got into the house he heard silence. Smiling to himself, he took off his shoes and quietly started making his way to his own bedroom. As he walked down the hallway, though, he almost tripped over a pillow that had been left on the floor. Thankfully he caught himself before he could fall by placing his hands on the wall. He breathed a long sigh of relief and lowered his head. The last thing he needed was a bruised bottom.

But when he looked down he couldn't help but noticed a figure in the dark. When he looked carefully he saw the figure was Emily. She was curled up on the floor, with layers of blankets underneath her and blankets wrapped around her tiny body. She had a pillow under her head and a few lined up against the wall to act as a cushion in case she rolled over. Mentor smiled at his youngest Samurai, assuming the only reason she was on the floor was because she had tired herself out taking care of the others.

Not knowing what state they were in, he didn't want to risk putting her in her room with Mike. If he was contagious, she risked getting sick as well. She had spent the entire day with the Rangers already, but anything he could do to minimize her chances of falling ill, he would do it. After all, if a Nighlok attacked, she was the only Ranger who could fight.

So he lifted her up carefully so as not to wake her and took her into the common room. He knew none of the couches in the house were comfortable to sleep on and he remembered hearing Emily had once fallen asleep on the stools. He stuck two of them together and laid her down. He walked back into the hallway and collected the pillows. He placed them around the stools, just in case Emily rolled off them in her sleep. He didn't want her hurting herself.

He whispered goodnight to the already sleeping yellow Ranger and went to his own room to get some sleep.

-Samurai-

When morning came, Mentor was delighted to see all five sick Rangers managed to pull themselves out of bed. He gave them a smile as they sat around the table for breakfast.

"How are you all feeling this morning?" he asked.

"Much better," Jayden smiled.

"Emily was right about that sleeping it off thing," Kevin chuckled. "All things considered, that was the best sleep of my life."

"Emily took good care of you while I was away?" Mentor asked as he set down the breakfast plates for each of the Rangers. They all nodded.

"She was at our beck-and-call all day," Antonio said. "She got a little scary at the end of the night, but I don't think I heard her complaining once."

"Speaking of Emily, where is she?" Mike looked around the room. He had been disappointed when he woke up to an empty bed, but he figured Emily had her reasons for not honouring her promise.

Mentor Ji pointed to the common room," I found her sleeping on the floor in a corner when I got home."

The five Rangers all turned their heads to the common room and saw a lump of blankets sleeping on two of the stools. Mia and Mike got up to check on her.

"Don't wake her up," Kevin told the pink and green Rangers. "She's probably exhausted."

"We won't wake her," Mike promised. He knelt down beside his sleeping girlfriend and smiled at her. He brushed the hair from her face but frowned when he felt she was a little warmer than usual. Mia saw this face and touched her forehead just to double check.

"Yep," she nodded to Mike, "she's warm."

"It seems despite my best efforts Emily still managed to catch whatever made you all sick," Mentor said.

"At least we're all fit enough to take care of her, huh?" Jayden asked his team. "After how well she took care of us yesterday, I think we owe it to her."

"Definitely," Mike nodded his head.

-Samurai-

Emily woke up in the middle of the afternoon and found herself tucked into her own bed. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there but she didn't question it. She was happy to be in her nice, warm and comfortable bed.

She rolled over so she could drift back to sleep, feeling exhausted and she found the longer she was awake the more she started to feel like she was going to throw up. She wanted to fall asleep again before she really felt bad.

When she rolled over, she found a nice little surprise. There was a full glass of juice and a slice of toast on her night table. Someone had left it there for her in case she was hungry when she woke up. She wasn't right now, but she appreciated the gesture.

She also noticed another surprise in her bed. Lying next to her was a soft, yellow teddy bear with a green t-shirt. The shirt read: Get Well Soon.

Emily smiled and pulled the bear close to her chest. That's when she noticed a final surprise. On the corner of her pillow was a card. She reached for it and opened it up.

_Don't bother getting out of bed when you wake up. We'll all be checking up on you all day and if you need anything just call. Sleep tight!_

_Love, _

_Your five annoying and very grateful patients._

_PS: Sorry we made you sick._

Emily smiled and placed the card on her night table before closing her eyes. She cuddled up with her bear and fell right to sleep.


End file.
